EXECVEAT

NAME

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int execveat(int dirfd, const char *pathname,
             const char *const argv[], const char *const envp[],
             int flags);

Note: There is no glibc wrapper for this system call; see NOTES.  

DESCRIPTION

If the pathname given in pathname is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred to by the file descriptor dirfd (rather than relative to the current working directory of the calling process, as is done by execve(2) for a relative pathname).

If pathname is relative and dirfd is the special value AT_FDCWD, then pathname is interpreted relative to the current working directory of the calling process (like execve(2)).

If pathname is absolute, then dirfd is ignored.

If pathname is an empty string and the AT_EMPTY_PATH flag is specified, then the file descriptor dirfd specifies the file to be executed (i.e., dirfd refers to an executable file, rather than a directory).

The flags argument is a bit mask that can include zero or more of the following flags:

AT_EMPTY_PATH

If pathname is an empty string, operate on the file referred to by dirfd (which may have been obtained using the open(2) O_PATH flag).

AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW

If the file identified by dirfd and a non-NULL pathname is a symbolic link, then the call fails with the error ELOOP.

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

EBADF

dirfd is not a valid file descriptor.

EINVAL

Invalid flag specified in flags.

ELOOP

flags includes AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW and the file identified by dirfd and a non-NULL pathname is a symbolic link.

ENOENT

The program identified by dirfd and pathname requires the use of an interpreter program (such as a script starting with "#!"), but the file descriptor dirfd was opened with the O_CLOEXEC flag, with the result that the program file is inaccessible to the launched interpreter. See BUGS.

ENOTDIR

pathname is relative and dirfd is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory.

VERSIONS

CONFORMING TO

NOTES

When asked to execute a script file, the argv[0] that is passed to the script interpreter is a string of the form /dev/fd/N or /dev/fd/N/P, where N is the number of the file descriptor passed via the dirfd argument. A string of the first form occurs when AT_EMPTY_PATH is employed. A string of the second form occurs when the script is specified via both dirfd and pathname; in this case, P is the value given in pathname.

For the same reasons described in fexecve(3), the natural idiom when using execveat() is to set the close-on-exec flag on dirfd. (But see BUGS.)

Glibc does not provide a wrapper for this system call; call it using syscall(2).  

BUGS

    execveat(fd, "", argv, envp, AT_EMPTY_PATH);

However, the inability to set the close-on-exec flag means that a file descriptor referring to the script leaks through to the script itself. As well as wasting a file descriptor, this leakage can lead to file-descriptor exhaustion in scenarios where scripts recursively employ execveat().  

SEE ALSO

COLOPHON

Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

VERSIONS

CONFORMING TO

NOTES

BUGS

SEE ALSO

COLOPHON